Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Polish effort to incentivize renewable energy gets European approval

An $11 billion Polish effort to support the development of renewable energy secured the nod from European regulators, a commissioner said.

The Polish government is supporting a scheme to cut levies to finance the development of renewable energy in a nation that has few natural resources of its own. Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner in charge of competition in the European Union, said the effort lines up with bloc-wide efforts to create a diverse and sustainable energy sector.

"We want to make progress toward green energy for the sake of our environment but also for European economic growth," she said in a statement. "The Polish support scheme will increase the share of green energy in Poland's energy mix and help the country's energy transition."

Smaller renewable energy projects would be supported by a feed-in tariff, typically a long-term contract based on the cost of generation. Larger installations would get a premium on top of the market price for electricity.

Poland relies on Russian energy company Gazprom for most of its natural gas shipments, though, like its European counterparts, it has tried to diversify its economy.
[upi.com]
13/12/17

EL Kaos UT

The UN has imposed a 2013 deadline for the submission of scientific claims to the Arctic seabed. It is the precursor to a resource boom which would see Canada, the US, Russia, Norway and Greenland all attempt to exploit the region's resources.